The Self Proclaimed Party Cup

You know those little red cups you see scattered on the ground throughout college campus’ and the areas surrounding them?

They are the self proclaimed party cup.

collegecandy.com

According to the Solo Company website, “Solo Square gets the party going.”

They have been succeeding in hiding alcoholic beverages since the 1970’s when the infamous red solo cup was first produced.

I asked my older sister Melanie, who attended college in the early nineties at Oswego State, if she used Solo cups in her day, her response was, “Are you talking about those red cups?”

Yes.

The Solo brand is most well known for the color red. Red was the first color that the World Headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois produced and therefore is the staple of their company. They immediately became the official party cup. They can still be found blowing down the street in any college community. No keg party is complete without a hefty supply of Solo cups.

With the massive amounts of Solo cups littering our Earth, we should be concerned about their effect on the environment.

Never fear! Solo created Bare by Solo, an environmentally friendly line of Solo products, but wait…most things that are good for the environment are bad for your pocketbook.

A pack of 100 Bare by Solo 16oz cups (the same size at the class red cups) costs about twice as much as the red cups.

The college students that most likely account for the majority of Solo cup sales are unable to purchase these environmentally sustainable products of lack of cash so what good are they doing?

In December 2010, the Solo Company was awarded the Corporate Leadership Award by Keep America Beautiful (KAB). The press release that was posted by the company stated, “Recently, Solo employees participated in Keep America Beautiful’s 2010 Great American Cleanup™, a nationwide volunteer effort to help create cleaner, greener and safer communities.” Hundreds of Solo volunteers banded together to promote an environmentally friendly future. “In addition to employee participation, Solo donated Bare® by Solo® cups and plates – made with renewable and recycled materials – to Keep America Beautiful affiliates across the country.”

That doesn’t fix the problem.

The press release did not state that their volunteers devoted their time to manual labor in order to physically clean the Earth. Promoting environmentalism is as effective as sending out happy thoughts.

College students are the culprits in the big Solo pollution, and as I previously mentioned, college students cannot afford the Bare by Solo line; so instead, they are scattering number 5 recyclable red plastic cups that are not recyclable in most states and they are most certainly not biodegradable.

I asked four current college students a few questions about Solo cups. Their answers were relatively unanimous.

Do you always buy Solo? Do you ever buy Generic? Which is better? Solo. Solo cups have a bigger mouth which makes beer pong easier. You can fill the cup up to the “O” in Solo with beer for a game of pong. Line-up better. Better grip.

What events do you attend that have Solo cups? Parties. Mostly with alcohol.

Most of these answers are incredibly misinformed. Solo cups come in six colors. Red, blue, clear orange, clear blue, clear green and sometimes solid pink in support of breast cancer. Most Wal-mart’s don’t sell Solo Cups, but Price Chopper, Target and Hannaford usually do. Party City sells their own generic brand of party cup that comes in more colors than the Solo company.

In a time where everyone is so concerned about the future of the Earth, how can we get the largest population of selfish and carefree college students to buckle down and use environmentally friendly products?

Trick them.

If the Solo company resigned their popular cups and recreated the red cups in biodegradable form like the Bare by Solo products, college students would have no choice.

No party is complete without Solo cups. They would buy them anyway. By taking away their choice of cheap versus expensive, students will have to purchase the recyclable cups.

It’s better for both the Earth and the Solo Company (who will be making money off of this.)

Juliet Barney, The College of Saint Rose

3 Responses

Hey wait a minute, wait a minute, let’s not blame only the beer pongers! It’s the overworked, exhausted mothers who have more than 3 kids. That’s right. Perhaps from a family like yours or mine who have to shoulder some of this ” solo” responsibility. Stop by any kids party and there you go…same red cups (okay I’d prefer the transparent lime green you mentioned) lining the cute ( wait a second couldn’t be) plastic table cloth. The worst thing is do you know how much a kid drinks out of these cups? Like two ounces before they either leave it or knock it over onto the rug ( hopefully covered with, you guessed it, plastic- although slightly thicker). At least the college students are getting a minimum of 10 to 12 ounces down while demonstrating some of their athletic prowness.